the trainer was good. she presented and talked in a lively manner and was very spontaneous. during the introduction of participants, i realised that i had attended her class before 2 years ago, organised by cahayasuara communications department, a catholic social communication department. (will give the link and the write up of the class i took in 2008 towards the end).

one good thing about the class, is that there were lots of practical lessons, which made the class exciting. it would be dead boring if we just sat down and listened and asked. we get to do exercises individually on paper, with a partner on paper, and individually going up the whiteboard to write. then there were the interview parts too (more about it later).

basically, we were taught on how to do a good, proper, interesting news story that will grab readers’ attention at once.

the ’5 W and 1 H’ were stressed throughout the whole 2 days class. we were told that whenever we do a story, we must always remember this golden rule – the what, who, where, when, why and how.

some stories were given to us, to let us identified the 5 W and 1 H and then picking up the important points, we were told the re-write the story.

we were also told to come up with a real examples of any news from our communities or anywhere, where we shared to the class, and everybody discussed how to write the story.

well what i remember most that was taught to us was that the opening introduction should tell all – show the 5 W and 1 H. it is the opening introduction that when reader read, they will know what is the whole story going to be about. she then said the following 2 paragraphs are important too, and usually readers who just read these 3 paragraphs will already have an idea what we are writing about, without going through the whole story. this follows the ‘inverted pyramid’ style – all important facts right on top, followed by not so important.

there was a homework for us on day one! we had to go back and re-write a news story given to us. with the tips we learned  it was hope that we could come out with a real good story.

on day 2, was started off with something on defamation.

i had learned something about defamation already at a ‘bloggers and the law’ forum organised by exabytes last year. of course the ‘bloggers’ here also encompasses journalists. i have blog about it here, so do read and get some ideas about how the law works for bloggers and journalists.

when someone sue us for defamation,  these are the 6 points we can use to declare our innocence:

1.  prove it is true. 2. absolute privilege (in court and in parliament) 3. qualified privilege (eg. medical record, bankruptcy) 4. statements made in good faith and believe to be true. 5. fair comments. 6. prove that there is no actual injury to reputation.

the importance of attribution was also stressed. if we used pictures from other websites. this is so that we wont’ get sue for using other people’s pictures. (uh oh. the picture i have up here… 1st picture… forgot the attribution. hold on…. ok got it now.  please note the 1st  picture was taken from this website. the other 2 were taken by my fellow CJ.

we were also taught how to do headlines that grab attention. some examples of short news were given to us, and we had to come up with the headlines.

ahh… the most interesting (and hilarious!) part was when we had to do an interview with two ‘make-believe scenarios’ (sort of role-play).

one scenario was about a coffee shop owner who was rumoured to run a sleazy massage parlour upstairs his coffee shop. the other was about a staff of malaysiakini caught in a sex video – remember all these were just make-believe. maran from malaysiakini got to play the the one caught in the sex video while arvind, also from malaysiakini got to play the part of the coffee shop owner. so we were divided into 2 groups and we had to approach each of them to interview them to dig out information from them.

it was fun interviewing them as they played their part well – and we being amateurs (ok at least i am), found it hard to dig out info from them! the trainer was going back and forth between the two groups to see how we were doing with the interviews.

after the interviews, the trainer discussed and analysed our interviews. she gave us tips on what we should have asked and where we went wrong.

later, it was on to another interview – but this time it was serious business. interviewing a real person and get her story and write out the story. the person chosen was none other than the lovely indrani kopal, malaysiakini’s video producer. we had to ask her questions in our interview to get information about herself and/or her work. after the interview, we had to sit down and write a news story about her. the trainer went round to check our work and gave us some tips. oh we did our story on hard-copies, which were handed to maran already, so i did not have my work on soft-copy, thus can’t share it here.

all in all, it was an interesting 2 days learning process. as i mentioned in the video to arvind, what i learned most was how to come out with interesting opening line and hopefully, how to make my stories short. i’m usually a long-winded person and my stories are always long! er… i don’t think i have really master this skill yet. hmm… another writing course to attend?

ok as i mentioned earlier that i had attended this trainer’s class before in 2008 (module 2 of the ‘media skills workshop’). here is the link where i blog about it (but only the last paragraph i mentioned the class). here is the write-up i wrote about it to herald.

NEWS & FEATURES WRITING WORKSHOP BY CAHAYASUARA

7 participants get to learn about news and features writing when they attended a workshop organised by Cahayasuara Communications Centre on 2 August.

The workshop was conducted by Ms X (name withheld for certain reason). She began by explaining the different kind of news and then showed the various sources where news can be obtained. Terminologies of newspaper and newsroom were also explored together with the participants. The Herald and The Star were used as resource materials to refer to.

Participants get to do some exercises when they were told to write a story based on some facts given. The objective of this exercise,  was to see how good they were at writing the opening line. The opening line is very important, X said. it should be interesting and attention grabbing so that it will attract readers to continue reading further.

Next, participants get to learn about features writing. The various styles of features writing were discussed, and X prodded the participants on to contribute where and how they can get ideas for features. Some examples of features work from The Guardian were referred to.

In any writing, X stressed to the participants, one must always remember the ‘5 W & 1 H’ – what, when, where, why, who and how. These form the basis for writing of news or stories and are very important to make sure all details were there.

Next session was on sub-editing. The participants had their time full sub editing news and articles from the Herald, under the watchful guidance of X. X reminded  the participants to be brief and try to cut out unnecessary words.

The final session, which seemed to be the most interesting was a ‘live interview’. Mr Paul Anthony, a staff from Cahayasuara Centre was interviewed for about half an hour. Enthusiasm can be seen in the participants as they threw many questions at Paul. The participants then had to write a story based on the interview.

The workshop ended with an evaluation and presentation of certificates.

(module 1 of the media skills workshop can be found here)

In the Northern region of Peninsular Malaysia, there are a number of NGOs that address the problems migrants and refugees faced. Sensing that there is a need for a network that bring together all these NGOs and individuals who are involved in migrants and refugees works, the Northern Migration and Refugee Network was launched in Nov. 2007. (It is better known by its Bahasa acronym – JUMP – Jaringan Utara Migrasi dan Pelarian).

JUMP was formed by a combination of NGOs and individuals to address the lack of representation, services, advocacy and resources available to migrants and refugees. Beside that, JUMP also acted as a link to bring together NGOs and individuals already engaged in migrant and refugee works, to better coordinate, build capacity and advocate for the interests of migrants and refugees.

The four main objectives of JUMP are:

* Service. To coordinate and/or make available to migrant and refugee communities, legal, welfare and other support services via its network.

* Training. To coordinate and/or organize relevant training programmes for service providers and the migrant/refugee communities.

* Advocacy. To initiate/participate in advocacy activities concerning the laws and policies affecting the migrant and refugee communities.

* Awareness. To create and awareness of the positive presence of the migrant and refugee communities in our country.

A JUMP planning meeting is held once every month, with representatives from NGOs and individuals. To date, the following NGOs are in JUMP: Aliran, Penang Office for Human Development, Suaram Penang, Tenagnita Penang, World Youth With A Mission, Nepali Sengati and one individual.

JUMP also works closely with UNHCR and is in contact with them for projects like registration of refugees and also organising workshop.

Many activities had been organized by JUMP ever since its formation in 2007 e.g. Refugee Day Celebration, Case Work Training,  Advocacy Workshop, Dealing with Authorities.

One of the activity that brings together not only JUMP members but people from all walks of life was the Right To Redress campaign (R2R campaign), which was officially launched by the Depuity Prime Minister II on February 2009.  R2R address the various needs of the different stakeholders involved in the migrants/refugees issues e.g. the authorities like immigration, police, Labour Office, Rela, employers and agents of migrant workers and the general public.

R2R approaches the issues from the viewpoint of basic rights. It asked that the basic rights of everyone, including migrants and refugees, be respected and protected, and that avenues be provided that really allow people with complaints to have those complaints fairly and impartially heard. In the case of refugees/migrants, this also means that they are allowed to stay in the country while their case is being heard, which means also they need to have a right to earn a living while this is happening.”

Bringing people together is exactly what JUMP tries to do, and this R2R campaign is an example.

To make sure that JUMP is also in contact with other groups involved in migrants/refugees issue, the members also participate in the Migration Working Group Annual Advocacy Workshop. This annual national event brings together a wide variety of individuals and organizations, not only from across Malaysia but from South East Asia too, who are involved in migration and refugees issues.

JUMP also organize training workshop to build capacity of those working with migrants/refugees. At their best effort, JUMP tries to build up documentation resources (flyers, leaflets, booklets) targeted at the authorities, the public and the migrants/refugee community

continue reading at my mental jog blog.

sorry, wanted to blog here but forgot and blog at mental jog instead and since i had already uploaded the photos there, i don’t want to go through uploading the photos here again. anyway, it seems that the admin post page at this blog, have some problems. some words/features over-lapped each other and sometimes can’t scroll up down. something’s wrong with the CJ blog!… well my CJ blog anyway.

he was invited by the islamic propagation society international (IPSI) to talk about his time at guantanamo bay, at the caring society complex, penang on 19 may.

i was there with friends christina and janet. i notice there were about 20% non muslim in attendance. (total crowd – can’t really say as i was seated right in front and didn’t actually looked back – but maybe a bit more than 100). it’s good to see non muslim attending talks organised by muslim NGO, and there was no sign like ‘not for non muslim’.

james yee is a 3rd generation american chinese who had converted to islam. he spoke in english of course. the MC (from IPSI) also spoke in english… which made the whole session in english. they began with a prayer recited by an iman from a mosque.

james spoke of some of the torture he encountered in guantanamo bay. he said that all prisoners in guantanamo bay are muslim (true kah?) and that the prison wardens (or was it commander or something else) like to use religion as weapon. for example, desecration of the holy koran. and ‘gender’ to lure the prisoners.

interesting what he said. he said that the prison wardens know muslim men are not suppose to touch women other than their wives. and they know that most of the prisoners are young muslim men. so they purposely use women to interrogate the prisoners. sometimes these women will take off their clothes in front of the prisoners. all these were done to intimidate the prisoners into talking.

he also talked about the time he was arrested in place in a prison for 76 days. didn’t really catch much of why he was arrested except something about they accusing him of having classified documents. anyway if you do a google search on him, you will find the story about him (his profile, also his story on his arrest).

the most interesting part was when he showed us slides of the guantanamo bay.  different prison camps were shown.  a prisoner’s cell was also shown. it was so tiny that for sure those who are claustrophobia cannot tolerate it.  at one prison camp, at a glance when the prison cells were shown in a row, we were shocked as a prison cell look like a locker! (you know, the long locker, where usually university or college has).

he also showed us about a 15 years old boy who is in the prison. oh he was 15 when he was first bought in but now he’s about 24 or 27, still in prison. a graphic picture of him with a huge injury in his arm was shown and he said the injury showed that the bullet ‘came out’ and not in. actually he meant the shot was fired from his back, the bullet went in from the back of his shoulder, then went out from the front shoulder.

the Q&A were interesting too.  one person asked why is the guantanamo prison, a US prison, not in US but in cuba.  james said that US had approacehed cuba to request for a place to operate a prison there and they agreed but when fidel castro came into power, he wanted so shut it down but later they made an agreement – US pay cuba US$3000 a month for the prison to be there!

james mentioned about obama saying he will close guantanamo bay in jan. this year but now after 3 months, he hasn’t done anything about it. so one person asked james why didn’t obama do anything.  james said that obama did not have the support of others! (lawmakers and public).  when another person asked if the americans  public knew about the atrocities going on in guantanamo bay, why the didn’t do anything.  he said that most americans couldn’t care less about other people’s rights as they are too involved in sports, movies, music, film stars – well in other words, entertainment!

someone brought up the abu ghraib prison and he told us that the abuse in guantanamo bay happened mostly in the interrogation room while the abuse in abu ghraib happened almost everywhere, include the cells. he alsm mentioned something about the guantanamo bay commander visiting abu ghraib, then 2 weeks later the abuse in abu ghraib started. hmm…

in telling how he was converted (he was a lutheran christian), he said that he find similiarity in christianity and islam, especially the part about mary’s virgin birth… oh i mean mary as a virgin giving birth.  i don’t know… but i feel that the way he recalled how he was converted didn’t quite seem right… like he was not telling something. anyway, doesn’t matter as i was there not to listen to how he converted but about life in the guantanamo bay.

well i don’t mind attending talks/exhibtions organise by muslim organisations, talks on islam, because that will be the way i learn about islam. similiarly i hope the muslim too won’t mind to attend talks on christianity… but it seems that the umno govt. is so scared of muslim attending talk on christianity for fear of them getting converted! me, if i attend hundreds of talk on islam, i’m sure i won’t get converted.

oh this reminds me of something  james said when he was telling how he converted. he said when somebody said to him “you must know first before you can judge” (he must know about islam first before he can judge islam). precisely! if one never want to learn about other religions, how can one judge the other religions?

]]> http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2010/05/20/muslim-chaplain-at-guantanamo-bay/feed/ 0 http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2010/05/11/historic-day-for-penang-1st-speech-at-speakers-square/ http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2010/05/11/historic-day-for-penang-1st-speech-at-speakers-square/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 17:34:18 +0000 lucialai http://cj.my/nowuseeit/?p=136 the speakers’s square in penang was launched on 4 may by the CM. we were then told that it will be opened for the public to speakl only wednesday and sunday (6.00pm to 10.00pm). well, 5 days later, on 9 may, sunday, the speakers’ square see its first inaugural speech when NGO, suaram penang together with sembang-sembang forum organised its first public speech there.

first up was ng eng kiat from suaram who explained that together with the

sembang-sembang forum group, they organised this session to arrange for some speakers  to speak up.

anyway after he spoke, eng kiat, asked the crowd, which stand about 5o people, if anyone of them would like to come up to speak. none did. then he introduced former exco, dr toh kin woon (3rd pic)  to speak.

i’m glad that i was present that day as it was a historic day – the first speeches session at the speakers’ square.  oh btw, i understand from andre, if i’m not mistaken actually both sides of the plaque contain the same words (speakers square in english and bahasa) but on saturday, the council had replace one side of it with… rules!! see the last picture – the rules clearly spelt out.

(funny both paper did not mentioned dr pa’s speech. and the sun’s report was so short. i know. opalyn, the sun reporter – a long time ‘lost and found’ friend told me that she already sent in her report right there at the square when the speakers finished the speeches – which means to say they want to be fast, so the report was short.)

i felt very proud to be among one of those CJ who attended the conference. in fact, james and i were the very first one to arrive… even before the organisers. hehe. actually we intended to go to the GST protest at dataran merdeka before attending the conference but james said to drop in at the conference first. then after dropping in, he felt lazy to go to dataran merdeka! anyway somewhere before the conference started, when shan said he wanted to go, i quickly tagged along with him but then we found out the protest was over.

ok back to the conference. it started after lunch time on saturday, 1 may. where jimmy, my fellow penang lang CJ (where some of us refer to him a ‘tai kor’). was the MC for the event. the first main seminar was just some introduction, briefing and discussion. some CJ shared about their video work (er… they should be more refer to as VCJ acutally – video citizen journalists). those who shared include shan, dave, sharyn.

after this first main seminar, there was a break-out session. ‘break-out’ meaning, the sessions were divided into 3 categories:  freshie (the new CJ and the public), those who attended the basic training and those who attended the advanced training (i’m in the last category). different sessions for the different groups.

for freshie, mr krishnanmoorthy muthaly, former reporter of the star,  gave at session on ‘basic citizen journalism’, while for the basic CJ it was a session on ‘news writing & journalism ethics’ by mr s. viknesan.  whereas i attended the session on ‘video investigative reporting’ by mr charles mohan of ntv7.  charles showed us videos of his exposure of filipino prostitutes in sabah (known as bidayut).  the videos were aired on ntv7 in 4 parts.  wow! interesting to learn how he went undercover.  secret camera and hidden tape recorder in the form of a watch – reminding me of james bond and his gadgets! it was an eye-opening session for me to learn from a professional on how an investigative (the exposure kind) was done.

the second main seminar was conducted by prof. zahrom nain from the university of nottingham on the topic of journalism and news reporting. it was nice meeting prof. zahrom again. we met briefly at kee thuan chye’s book reading in penang – the book ‘march 8, the day malaysia woke up’ written by kee tuan chye. both prof. zahrom and i had contributed to the book.  we were also members in the bangsa malaysia penang e-group.

this was followed by the best part of it all – food! ok ok, not that really but the best part was meeting the big guns of malaysiakini during the dinner and listening to their speeches.  well, there was a buffet dinner, a time for people to eat and mingle around.  i got to talk to stevan gan, one of malaysiakini’s boss, to send francis chan’s regard to him (among other things of course. oh francis chan is the bureau chief of UCAN).

hannah yeoh, the ADUN for subang was invited as a special guest. she gave a speech and together with stevan and premesh, launched komunitikini.

after the dinner, it was time for speeches and awards. both stevan gan and premesh chandran (malaysiakini co-founders) gave a speech.  part of what they said can be read at the komunitikini website. (also CnP below).  i notice that stevan gan has a habit of saying “you know…”.   haha. so many times, throughout his speech, we heard  ”you know…”

oh before the speeches, we were introduced to two penans CJ! they were mariam kek mewa and gayut lim. a video by them was shown to all. they also gave a short speech in their iban language and in bahasa.

there was an award presentation for best video – 2 categories – one voted by CJ and one voted by the public.  the former was won by KS tan while the latter was won by dave kameron.  there was also a certificate presentation ceremony for those taking the basic course.

the next day, sunday, 2 may, started off with an interesting person in the form of a sweet lady, veronica pedrosa from al-jazeera! she was here on personal capacity though. well she shared with us about broadcast reporting.

the breakout session which followed, saw mr teoh teik khoon telling the freshie on the basic of camera handling. mr krishnanmoorty was back for the basic CJ category, this time on the topic of investigative journalism.  s. vicknesan (or fondly known as ‘vicky’) who on the first day gave an insight of news writing and journalism ethics to the basic CJ, today, talked about advanced news writing for my group – advanced CJ. i like this session since i once in a while do news writing for the herald and UCAN. vicky was a great speaker who spoke freely from the heart. i notice he did not use any props (like most speakers using powerpoint slides) not did he us any notes! he was totally empty handed. he just spoke like he’s talking to friends… and i notice he likes to walk round and round the table as he spoke.  luckily it was a slow walk… or else he would made all of us dizzy. hehe.

the last session of the day was a talk on the new media by oon yeoh from the edge. well… what he told us were nothing new actually. i don’t know with the others but i sort of feel this session shouldn’t be held (because what he presented to us, i already knew!). it was not the speakers’ fault of course, since he was asked to give a talk on this topic.  oh well, maybe some of the freshie find the session useful.

the last event of the day was the forum, where all the CJ present thrashed out any problems or issues they have. well i suppose this should be among us CJ only so i’d better not talk about what we thrashed out here in my blog.

i was very happy to have attended the conference as not only did i get to learn stuffs to enhance my knowledge but  i also  get to meet so many CJ from all over malaysia. all this is possible because of maran perianen – our CJ sifu!! syabas to him and a big THANK YOU to him. of course the others malaysiakini staff e.g. shufiyan, indrani also played a part in moulding the CJ but maran was the main person who takes care of us CJ – he’s like a papa to us. haha.

ok to see more photos taken by me, please go to my facebook album (some – 4 or 5 photos were not by me). i do not have the 2nd day photos as my camera’s battery were out.

so far i see facebook photo album of arvind raj (more to be updated later)

UPDATED

carolyn khor’s facebook album

indrani’s facebook album

maran’s facebook album

also to read about the conference from some of the CJ (more to be updated later… if any)

mina

1 mai tomyam

UPDATED

sunny lim (6 videos here!)

video by lim boo seng

montage by maran

——————————————————————————————————————

the prelude!

Citizen journalists revolutionise news reporting
Sharyn Shufiyan
Apr 30, 10
3:16pm

In Malaysia, news reportage is seen to be monopolised by major news organizations that are either owned by political parties or funded by corporations that are government-friendly.

The growing skepticism and distrust among the public is creating a thirst for impartial and objective news reports.

This has given birth to citizen journalism.

Recognising that there is news out there that escapes the mainstream media, Malaysiakini’s CEO and co-founder Premesh Chandran started the citizen journalism training course with funding from the US-based International Center for Journalists in 2008, conducted its first training programme in November that year.

The course aims to equip its participants, regardless of background, with journalistic skills that include writing as well as new tools such as video story-telling.

Along the way they are also introduced fundamentals of journalism: the ethics and mechanics of the trade that will serve as a guide in a their pursuit of stories, and which distinguishes them from mainstream journalists.

The workshops are intense, compact and hands-on with theoretical and practical exercises designed to shape ordinary people – teachers, lawyers, students, retirees – into unbiased, ethical and daring citizen journalists (CJs) reporting on issues that concern them and their community.

Key to the programme is the close monitoring and mentoring that active CJs receive to ensure continual improvement in their skill-sets.

Challenging mainstream media

Since its inception, the programme has spawned 186 citizen journalists, of whom 86 are active reporters today. Some have even made a name for themselves in the media.

They have shaken political parties, highlighted community struggles, tackled religious and ethnicity issues and other such stories that the mainstream media steers clear of.

Sixteen training workshops have so far been conducted throughout Malaysia, in Kelantan, Penang, Perak, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.

The course emphasises video journalism, as visuals tell a million stories and have great potential to move viewers. Messages come out stronger with real footage and at-the-scene reporting.

In fact, some of the videos produced by the CJs have created such impact they have been picked up by other online news portals and disseminated across cyberspace.

Life-changing

Participants of the workshops say that it has changed their lives.

For some, it has instilled a new sense of confidence and curiosity as they are compelled to approach and interview people for stories. The more assured participants learn to adopt a more ethical and professional approach to the job.

Some who have never handled a video camera before can now edit and produce documentaries, while those who could not write before are now sending articles to be published in Malaysiakini.

To date, CJs have produced 694 videos and 43 articles. 12 of the articles have made it to Malaysiakini’s website.

The rest are hosted on www.cj.my, a site established as a result of the programme’s success and a channel for CJs to host their work.

This new breed of journalists is revolutionising the way that news is being reported in the country, and they pose a real challenge to a mainstream media that is constantly negotiating red-tape around “sensitive issues.”

The programme has injected new hope into journalism in Malaysia, and nothing like it exists elsewhere in the region.

It is therefore fitting that they be the focus of World Press Freedom Day this year.

From 1 – 2 May, 2009, Central Market’s Annexe in Kuala Lumpur will host the CJ Conference 2010, where CJs from around the country will converge to discuss and share their experiences. The conference will also engage the public through various workshops.

————————————-

the epilogue!

from Komunitikini

Malaysiakini founder Premesh Chandran spoke about the plans for the newly launched community website, Komunitikini.com, at the recent Citizen Journalist Conference held at the Central Market Annexe last Saturday.  He said the portal plans to expand to 30 communities within a year.

Premesh said the newly launched Komunitikini will work with citizen journalists around the country to provide local insights.

“Citizen journalists will function as someone from the community, to address issues of concern in the community,” he said in a speech after launching Komunitikini with Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan and  Subang assemblywoman Hannah Yeoh.

Komunitikini has been running  for one month and now prioritising  Subang Jaya, Puchong, Petaling Jaya, Bangsar and Damansara in the first phase.

Premesh also excited the crowd when he announced Malaysiakini has filed an application for a print license.

“We applied for it seven years ago, but they (the authority) gave us no reply. I think they have no reason to say ‘no’’ now because we have a very good track record so far,” he said.

In the conference where more than 180 citizen journalists from all over Malaysia attended, the organisers screened a video about the life of Sarawak Penan community, produced by two Penan citizen journalists.

The two journalists made an open plea for better education infrastructure for the Penans and dedicated schools for the community.

“Many of us did not attend high school because the nearest school takes us about one week’s time to drive to,” Gayut Lim, the Penan guy said.

It partially denies the  access of Penan to higher education, resulting in the lack of progress among the community.

Subang state assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh in her speech said local news can serve to inform the public regarding the proper jurisdiction of channels and power separation between state and federal governments.

She meanwhile suggested for more positive news to be circulated.

“I think our society reads too much bad news. Everyday when we open the newspaper, it’s all depressing news,” she said.

The two-day conference saw seasoned journalists such as Veronica Pedrosa (Al-Jazeera) and Onn Yeoh (The Edge) speaking about topics including citizen journalism, new media, and journalism ethics.

The event also saw awards being given out for the best videos created by citizen journalists.

Malaysiakini initiated the citizen journalist project over a year ago by organising a series of workshops to train the citizens to report news, events and issues pertaining to their communities.

this is my first post, where i copy the article from malaysiakini, including many pictures too. of course i only paste my own say here.

—–

the march of the real bumiputera…

or supposed to be a march… because they were stopped by the police!… while the pendatang from perkasa and those pendatang cow-head protestors marched/protest, the police did nothing.

who are these real bumiputera – the true son of our soil, i meant? why, the orang asli of course!

very glad to hear that that was the biggest protest of the orang asli. very glad to hear that finally the orang asli had dare to come out, dare to speak out.  they were protesting against the proposed amendment to act 134 of the national land act.  land issue had always been the perennial problem plaguing the orang asli. why? read from aliran here.

also read about what they themselves had to say, where i personally heard from them, not only about land but about JHEOA (the orang asli affairs department). i have nothing good to say about JHEOA. JHEOA is rubbish… acting on their own interests only or of course umno’s interest.

—–

my second post:

note: this one, i’m copying  the comments from malaysiakini, since i want to share them, to let more people read about them.

who are the real bumiputera? is there such a thing as bumiputera?

from malaysiakini:

The debate as to the status and rights of the Orang Asli was triggered after Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz told Parliament yesterday that the defintion of ‘bumiputera’ included the Malays, the natives of East Malaysian and also the Orang Asli of the Peninsular.

However, while federal constitution does not mention the term ‘bumiputera’, Article 153 of it says that ’special privileges’ are to be extended only to the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak.

so what does that means? that means though the orang asli may qualify as bumiputera but they are not qualified for special privileges!! but wait… bumiputera? how and where does bumiputera comes in? it was stated that bumiputera was not found in the constitution.

The term ‘bumiputera’ is absent in the constitution. It’s recognised to be a social-politcal invention of the BN government to place the Malays and other ’sons of the soil’ in a category separate from other Malaysians.

aha! just as i thought. it’s all the work of BN, particularly umno of course.

anyway one interesting  comments at malaysiakini is this one from kaykay. according to him, to classify the orang asli as bumiputera is an insult because just about anybody can be bumiputera!!  you just masuk islam, and hey presto!… you are a bumiputera. he mentioned even pakistani, bangladeshi, etc are bumipuera. here’s what kaykay has to say:

Legally speaking, it’s not possible to place the Orang Asli in the same category as the Bumiputera since that would be downgrading them. Even in Sabah & S’wak, the Natives there prefer to be known as Natives rather than Bumiputera. They know that any Tom, Dick, Prick & Harry can become a Muslim, call himself a Malay & be considered a Bumiputera. This has seen Indians, Pakistanis & Bangladeshis in Sabah being classified as Malays & Bumi. In S’wak there is an Indian Muslim Minister in the Taib Gov’t. He’s a member of PBB (Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu) which is meant only for Bumis. Daud is in because he’s considered Malay & therefore a Bumi. Back to Sabah, there was the infamous case recently of Salman the Pakistani who was even born in Pakistan. Yet he managed to apply for a MyKad where he was listed as being born in Ranau. He’s considered Malay & a Bumi & no less than former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh himself turned up in court to vouch for him. So, the court had to release him.

anyway, i was thinking as bumiputera means ’sons of the soil’, then since we were born in malaysia, so aren’t we all sons of the soil?? so there shouldn’t be bumiputera at all OR if there is a bumiputera, it should mean ALL of us!!

funny. this reminds me of our national anthem, the line which goes “tanah tumpahnya darahku”. all of us were born in malaysia,  all of us were sons of the soil in malaysia, all of us feel this is our ‘tanah tumpahnya darakhku’ – then why is it that only malays are classified as bumiputera? ok ok i know… all because of umno’s doing.

before i go, here’s another part of the comment in malaysiakin, which i would like to share with all because this is what i feel too but as i said being cautious not to say it out! (something in what i said that i met some orang asli face to face and what they told us straight from their mouth, which i find unprintable!).

from anak malaysia:

Sadly, the only thing the Govt seriously pursued all these years is the systematic Islamization of the Org Aslis. Villagers are tempted with carrot of development to convert to Islam. Those villages which refuse to convert are denied development. This is governance by bad faith! There is even a policy to Islamize all OAs by a certain year! Suraus are built in villages with no Muslim population. Churches in Christian majority villages are torn down. Thousands of imams are placed in non Muslim villages so that the OAs “are not deprived of Islamic education”. Not that they wanted or asked for this in the first place! JHEOA is staffed with Malay Muslims to the exclusion of OAs themselves, and they become govt tools of religious propoganda, instead of working for advancement of this poverty stricken community. Such is the aggressive Islamization efforts of the Govt. Same story amongst the natives of rural Sabah & Sarawak. Wake up people to the truth of what is going on in this land!

On Deepavali Day, 17 October 2009, residents of Pearl Hill Townhouse and Solok Tan Jit Seng in Tanjung Bungah, Penang, organised a protest against dangerous hill slopes development, which they labelled as ‘Deepavali Tea Party’, because the protest was followed by a tea reception.

About 60 residents turned up, supported by the Tanjung Bungah Residents Association (TBRA). They all hold banners and placards with catchy slogans like ‘Hell on earth with Hill Slopes Development’, ‘Mistakes cost lives’.  However, what was more interesting was that some of them were armed with pots and pans, which they will bang hard, making a noisy din, each time a speaker made a pertinent point.

This was the third ‘Tea Party’ in this year, organised by the Tanjung Bungah residents. The first one was on Valentine’s Day, 14 Feb at Chee Seng Gardens, and the second one was at Solok Tan Jit Seng on 23 March.

In the recent Deepavali Tea Party, the residents hope that the State Government will adhere strictly to the newly Cabinet-approved ‘Guidelines for Hillside and Highland Areas Development’ (12/8/09).  which bans any development on slopes of more than 35 degrees gradient.

They also urged the State Government to stop projects at high risk areas. By ‘high-risk area’ it mean by building on hill slopes above 25 degrees, as stipulated by the Science & Environment Ministry Guidelines on Hill Slope Development issued out in 2002. They call it Class III (above 25 degrees) & Class IV (above 35 degrees). Class IV is deemed VERY Dangerous to construct any building

Ironically at Solok Tan Jit Seng, developer DynamicPro plans to build 25 three-storey town-houses on a hill-slope which residents claim has a gradient of over 65 degrees! So much more than the stipulated Class IV. The project site on the slope looks down on a row of houses, behind which stands the Tanjung Bunga school. Above the project site on the slope lies the precariously perched Pearl Hill apartments

That’s why on Deepavali Day, the residents of Pearl Hill and Solok Tan Jit Sent decided to organised a  protest, hoping their voices would be heard. With the tragedy of Bukit Antarabangsa fresh in their mind, they fear for their lives

Desmond Ling, the chairman of the Pearl Hill Phase I Residents Association was the MC and the first speaker, followed by Datuk Phang, a resident of Solok Tan Jit Seng, who spoke in Mandarin.

George Aeria, TBRA chairperson was the third speaker. Both he and Desmond were passionate in voicing that the situations in their areas are now very risky and dangerous and they want the government to do something about it.

“Our tea party will go on and on until the State Government do something” said George, “We are here for a simple reason – to urge the government to stop dangerous hill slopes development.”

George also informed that there will be a state hearing on appeal against Pearl Hill, Tanjung Bungah’s hill slopes development at Komtar.

Both were glad that they had the support of YB Teh Yee Cheu, the DAP state assembly member for Tanjung Bunga. YB Teh was the last speaker to address the crowd.  At an interview, YB Teh said that although it looks like he alone is supporting the Tanjung Bunga residents, on the contrary, the government did do something.

”Last year, we did put a stop to Class III and Class IV hill slopes development when we stop granting approval to developers.” Said YB Teh.

Pressed on what about the existing Class III and Class IV projects, he responded that the people could play a part here for example by appealing to the Board to stop these projects or scaling down the projects.

As to what will convince the people that they (government) are doing something, he said that the government will try to have more dialogue with the residents.

Vice chairperson  of TBRA, Lee Lainne, spoke on the ambiguity of the Penang Structure Plan which omitted the gazetted boundary of Tanjong Bunga from the designated ‘Secondary Development Corridor’.  This means the gazetted boundary of Tanjung BUnga is now listed as Primary Corridor.

“The infrastructure of Tanjung Bunga is such that it does not cater for the First Primary Corridor,” explained Lee, “Primary Corridor permits high density development, which is suitable for George Town but certainly not Tanjung Bunga.”

She said that the government should concentrate on building up a good infrastructure for Tanjung Bunga before putting it under the Primary Corridor.

In a press statement released on the day of the protest, the residents stated that since Sept. 2008, they had been in dialogue with the City Council and the State Government, calling upon them to emulate the Selangor State Government, which has put a blanket ban on all Class III and Class IV hill slopes development. However, they were disheartened that despite their efforts to engage in dialogue, nothing has changed. Stop-work orders have come and gone and many risky developments have continued with only minor disruptions. There is still no blanket restriction on high-risk Hill Slopes development except for a verbal promise by Chief Minister, YAB Lim Guan Eng, at a meeting on 24 Dec. 2008.

They also stated that in the light of the danger posed by any hill slope development of 25 degrees and above, AND also because there is currently no competent and independent authority in Penang, ensuring ANY slope maintenance after the completion of a development, continued construction works on Class III and Class IV hill slopes is considered a serious threat to nearby residents. AT this, they called upon the State Government to:

• Put an immediate and permanent stop to all projects which have not been started on Class II and Class IV hill slope gradients.
• Rehabiliatge the presently denuded steep slopes which potentially threaten the lives and property of all residents living above and below such slopes.
• End any further approvals of development projects on Class III and Class IV Hill Slopes, as stiupulated in the guidelines issued by the Housing & Local Government Minister dated 12 Aug. 2009.
• Realise that it has a very important role to play to safeguard the lives and property of  the citizens of Penang and to demonstrate its commitment in writing and take above firm and drastic actions.

See the video here. (malaysiakini)

or at youtube

]]> http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2009/10/28/noisy-protest-by-tg-bungah-hill-residents/feed/ 0 http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2009/06/30/bloggers-and-law/ http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2009/06/30/bloggers-and-law/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:00:46 +0000 lucialai http://cj.my/nowuseeit/?p=77 The eLawyer – Exabytes Penang Bloggers & Law Forum 2009 held on 28 june at USM see about 50 people in attendance. Citizen Journalists Natasja, Lilian Tan and Lim were there. Met a number of my blogger friends there like Richard Loh, Romerz, Masterwordsmith. Daniel. Chandra from Bangasa Malaysia Penang (Richard is also a Bangsa Malaysia Penang member) came late, just as the last speaker finished speaking. The last speaker was Mr Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, a journalist turned lawyer. I met him before twice at our Bangsa Malaysia Penang meeting (more than a year ago! and I was pleasantly surprised he can recognise me, even remember my name.

At the registration desk, manned by Exabytes staff, we received a nice orange ‘recycling’ bag,’ which contain a pen, a notebook, 2 desk calendars and of course Exabytes pamphlet announcing its latest promotion.

Eddie Law from eLawyer, started off the forum by welcoming everyone and he gave some background on the forum, informing that a smiliar one was held in KL in March this year. He then proceeded to explain about eLawyer, an online community for lawyers. This was followed by Miss Ooi from Exabytes, who of course talked about her company, especially the services they offered. Oh, Eddie also informed us that the scheduled speaker, Mr Shamsul Jafri Shafie from Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission ACT 1998 (MCMC Act) couldn’t make it. It was a bit of disappointment but never mind, the enthusiasm of the other speakers made up for it.

The first speaker, Mr. Foong Cheng Leong, talked about copyrights and intellectual property laws. It was more or less the same like the talk he had in KL.

I had blog about the KL forum here. Many of us who put up images on our blogs, tend to google for the image, right? After selecting one, we put it on our blog… usually without mentioning credit – that according to Mr Foong infringe copyrights law. Well, I did that all the time… sometimes I put in credit, sometimes I don’t and I notice most bloggers don’t! So to say that we broke the law if we put up images found on the net on our blog, to me is kind of ridiculous. Well… but it is the law. Mr Foong said yes many people did it… it’s just that they are not ‘caught’. It’s like people know it is wrong to break a traffic rule, yet they do it but the police did not see them do it, so they get away with it! Hot-linking an image also infringed on copyrights laws, he said. I used to hot-linked images from Malaysiakini, until one day my web-host told me that a page will load slower with hot-linked images, so I decided to stop doing it!

Apart fromm hot-linking which infringe on copyrights, another type of infringement is ‘framing’. What is framing? Framing is when on your website/blog, you allow the viewer screen to split into multiple independently scrollable sections which may contain text, images, or other frames.

What do you do if someone accused you of infringing copyrights on her/his materials? Of course no knowledge is not defence at all. Well, you can enter into the ‘Fair dealings of Copyrights Acts 1987′. What is fair dealings? It acts for purposes of:
• Non-profit research
• Private study
• Criticism
• Review; or
• Reporting of current events

Fair dealings is subject to the condition that if such use is public, it is accompanied by an acknowledgement of the title of the work and its authorship…
except where the work is in connection with

- the doing of any of such acts for the purposes
- of non-profit research, private study and the
- reporting of current events by means of
- sound recording, film or broadcast

Mr Fong ended his talk by stressing to us that whenever we use an image (or text) from other places, please remember to give credit so as to avoid breaking the copyrights law.

Hmm… I wonder how does one proves that one is the rightful owner of a particular image? Don’t remember he talked about it. Er… maybe he did cover that and I missed it. Ok you looked at all the pictures here… all of them (except the last one) were taken by me, which means i own the copyrights. What if someone took one of this picture and said it is her/his… it is her/he who took the picture? How do I prove if if I have already deleted the picture from the memory card of my digicam?

Before Mr Stephen Tan took over on his ‘Bloggers and Defamation Law’ topic, Mr. Khairul Anuar bin Shaharudin, who acted as moderator during the Q&A later, gave a brief talk about blogging from a lawyer’s point of view. He had blog about it too. Mr Tan’s (oldest of the 3 speakers) talk was very lively and interesting. He was the only speaker who made the audience laughed many times (He has a good sense of humour).

Mr Tan had an advice for bloggers – he said as bloggers, we should only start the questioning process an not try to be funny by provoking. By this, he meant that for example we blog on how the police stop the public from having candle-light vigil, so we question why the police did that when they have no right to stop them and also might mentioned they were arrogant and so on but we should not go on to say all policemen are so free to only do work of stopping vigilers or all police-men are arrogant. (that is ‘trying to be funny’!). He also said the most important thing for a blogger to possess is credibility. If a blogger has good intention, s/he does not have to worry about anything as God will guide her/him. (I found that in his talk he mentioned about God a number of times. Hmm… must be a God-fearing man.)

There are 2 types of defamation, he said – libel, what was written and slander, what was spoken. If someone called you a ‘bastard’, it means s/he is slandering you but you can’t sue the person unless you can prove that you suffer damage/loss as a result of being called a bastard. See, it is not so easy to sue anyone when you feel that what s/he said/wrote is libelous/slanderous.

Mr Tan also mentioned this – what I had in my mind all the time already – “All of you who blog or write are citizen journalist”. (See, anyone can be citizen journalist! It’s a matter of a good one or a bad one or whether you receive training or not). He said that citizen journalist must also adhere to the code of journalism. Balance is very important in journalism according to Mr Tan (apart from credibility as mentioned earlier). We must strive to enquire from both sides in our reporting. (For example, glad to note that CJ Lilian and Jimmy did that on the issue of the eviction notice by the Bishop of Penang to the villagers at the Church of St Francis Xavier, Penang).

Mr Tan said that as citizen journalists, while we pursue balance, we should also pursue truth, and explained to us that there are two kinds of truth – absolute truth and transition truth. Absolute truth… well I’m sure you know what it is (you got to if you are a CJ!). Transition truth? It is something like a truth that can be true today but tomorrow it may not be true. Go figure out!

I agree with Mr Tan when he said that in our writing not only we use words but we images too – image as in conjuring it in your mind, then from the image, the words will flow! This is one good method for getting ideas for your writing. You can picture a scene, then think what to write of the scene.

There was a Q&A sessions but only 4 persons spoke up. My friend, Paula (of Masterwordsmith), asked a lot and very relevant. Chandra asked something not relevant but it was enthusiastically answered and discussed nevertheless – he asked about ISA, what is the condition of the prisoners in ISA detention and so on. There was some discussion about disclaimer and all the lawyers (including participants) agree that it is pointless having a disclaimer in your blog as it is not binding at all. Well we may put it in but it doesn’t mean we will be free of any copyright or defamation laws.

As I had blog about the forum in KL, it seemed that if we were to follow the laws right to the T, I would have broken so many laws while blogging! Well, as they said it is a matter of not being found out. .. and I consoled myself that, that won’t be easy since I’m a relatively unknown, unpopular blogger! Usually the authorities will target more the popular bloggers. But of course this doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t be on my guide against these laws and blog without any care in the world. Don’t worry, I know how to take care of myself.

(note: the last photo – the group photo was taken by an exabytes staff.  i’m on far right, 2nd row.

UPDATED:  exabytes blog

]]> http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2009/06/30/bloggers-and-law/feed/ 0 http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2009/06/22/the-right-to-right-to-information/ http://cj.my/nowuseeit/2009/06/22/the-right-to-right-to-information/#comments Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:06:19 +0000 lucialai http://cj.my/nowuseeit/?p=67 attended the ‘right to information’ forum at the caring society complex, penang, yesterday. about 30 people were in attendance. it was organised by transparency international malaysia (TI) and centre for independent journalism. (CIJ)

usha from transparency international was at the registration desk. on registration, we were given some pamphlets and this cute badge, as seen in the picture here.

the moment i saw the badge with the words ‘journos’ on it, i think of my fellow citizen journalists (CJ) comrades. (a group of us who were trained by malaysiakini to be citizen/video journalists). some of them had already been ‘on the job’ going around as citizen journalists interviewing people and making videos. as i thought each of us only get one badge, i ask usha if the badges are on sale as i thought of getting some for the penang CJ. usha said not on sale but was kind enough to give me more of the badges. well i hope the CJ will like it.

the forum, or rather the ‘dialogue on citizen’s rights to access public information’ as stated on the banner, carried the theme ‘transparency of information for government with integrity’. i could not really understand the theme at first but after the dialogue, i was very clear of the theme and fully agree with it.

gayathry, who is CIJ’s executive director (good to see her again) started off with a brief introduction. she informed that together with TI, they are planning a series of dialogue on the ‘right to information’ (RTI) nation-wide. one was held in KL already and last week they had one in ipoh an now they are in penang. next they’ll be at johor, and later on, i think moving to kelantan, negeri sembilian, even kota kinabalu and so on.

angeline loh (pic below), from aliran was the first speaker to speak on ‘right to information and public transport’. first she touched on the public transport in penang, especially the bus. how bad the bus system is, especially with the ‘pajak’ buses running along side rapid penang was revealed by her. interestingly she said the public transport (bus) is set up more for profit-making than for the public interest. this means, though i was not aware of it, but only aware of it when angeline revealed that rapid penang and the ‘pajak’ bus are under the control of the ministry of finance and the commercial vehicle licensing board (CVLB), i was not surprised as well.. it sort of figures! (and talking about public interest and profit reminds me of another forum i attended where one of the speaker kept repeating ‘whatever is done, must be done with the public interest, not profit interest’).

starting the public transport is consider launching a project. whenever the government launch a project, we have the right to know all the information about the project e.g. the what, who, how, where and so on. after all, the buses purchased were by our money as tax payers and we have the right to know how our money were spent in a particular project. when a project… especially a mega-project… was launched but we did not know anything about it, what happened?

i like these two phrases that angeline said “denial of information stunts our knowledge” and “denial of rights of information give full rein to corruption.” how true. well this is what happened when we are denied information on projects by the government!

gayathry (pic below),was next to speak and she started off by taking us into the current regime of information. as information is powerful, she said, authorities feel that they need to control information to feel powerful. things are usually done ad-hoc or at the whims and fancies of the authorities. information reveal are usually only on a ‘need to know-basis’. everything seems to be secret, secret, cannot tell, cannot tell or you have no right to know. however, accessing public information is our right and it is the government’s obligation to provide us with information. this will help in improving decision making and improve good governance.

it was then that she came out with a good quote (like the two good quotes angeline came out with) – “rights of information leads to good governance”. ahh… now i understand better the theme ‘transparency of information for government with integrity’.

gayathry continued to say that there should be one standard for accessing information, not biased or selective. she then listed out the existing legislation that suppress information, as follows:

- official secret act (OSA)
- internal security act (ISA)
- printing presses and publications act (PPPA)
- penal code
- communications and multimedia act

these are the 5 popular well-known ones. surprisingly, she said there are 26 sets of legislation that have an impact on the media and the citizen’s rights to know. yes, citizen’s rights to know is enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights (UDHR) if you take a look at article 19:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

gayathry wrapped up with a good thought for us to ponder when she said that the government is an extension of the political will of the people. therefore information provided to the government does not in any way belongs to the government; it belongs to the people that the government represent. you got it? so you see how important is the rights to information (RTI). one case example is the haze which first enveloped our country many years back. the government was reluctant to reveal the API haze reading until they were pressured and finally they revealed the API. the haze affect all of us, not only the government, so why should the government keep quiet about the readings!

that’s why, gayathry said, CIJ and TI are pushing for the RTI bill to be enacted in all states. she informed that selangor had already agree to enact the bill in july and she hope that penang will be the second state to do so. well, CM lim guan eng, what are you waiting for?

noel dass (pic below), senior research assistant from the centre for public policy studies then spoke on the basic principles of RTI, which are:

- maximum disclosures
- public bodies oblige to publish key information
- public bodies must actively promote open government
- exception should be clearly and narrowly drawn
- requests for information should be processed fairly and rapidly with independent review of any refusal made available.
- should not be cost-prohibitive
- meeting of public bodies should be open to public
- laws which are inconsistent with principle of max disclosure should be amended or repealed
- whistleblower protection

it’s good for all of us to remember this, have them on our mind always, especially when the RTI bill is tabled and running.

now what is meant by ‘maximum disclosures’ (the first principle – what is meant by ‘public bodies’ later)? when there is a presumption that a piece of information should be disclosed (eg the haze API readings) and when public interest is paramount. everyone… not only citizens… has the right to information. now, of course there are exceptions (ah when noel mentioned exceptions, the first thing that came to my mind is the government’s mumbling of ‘threat to national security’!). true enough, the exceptions that he listed out has ‘national security’ right on top.

- national security
- law enforcement
- personal privacy
- commercial secrecy
- public or individual privacy
- protecting the integrity of the government decision-making process
- legally privileged information
- public economy interests

all well and good for these exceptions to exist of course, especially for the government but then RTI also stated that these exceptions should be CLEARLY and NARROWLY drawn. the government cannot simply said “ahh this one ah cannot tell. if tell, it will jeopardise national security”. however, the government (or public body) MUST prove that releasing information will jeopardise national security. if the government keep on insisting that the information is sensitive, then the RTI bill will make sure that any information deem sensitive to past the 3-part test before it is classified as sensitive.

the 3-part test:

- does the information relate to a legitimate aim specified in the right to information law?
- would its disclosure do substantial harm to that aim?
- if so, would it nevertheless be in the public interest to disclose that information?

noel then stressed that if certain information within a specified document is deemed secret, only the exact information covered by the exception should be redacted and withheld, while the rest of the document should be made available.

now if RTI it tabled, you would want to know who is subjected to RTI, right? who? all public bodies. and who are ‘public bodies’? well, the council of europe define ‘public bodies’ as such:

- government and administration at a national, regional or local level
- natural or legal persons insofar as they perform public function or exersise administrative authority as provided for by national law
- private bodies if they hold information whose disclosure is likely to diminish the risk of harm to key public interests (public interests obligation)

there were some questions and comments from the floor after noel’s talk. gayathry also made some comments regarding the RTI law in other countries. she said that over 50 countries already has RTI and she informed that the best RTI enforcement is in mexico country. she said that in mexico even any form of police brutality will be disclosed to public for all to know.

to wrap up the session, usha came to thank everyone for their attendance and she also gave some background to how this road-show came about. it started in nov. last year when they invited 2 speakers from sweeden to train people about RTI, how to apply RTI in the malaysian context and so on. these people were from CIJ and TI of course and also from other NGO like amnestry, suaram, bar council. these trained people than go on the road-show to engage the public on the need for a RTI bill. coming up next, usha said, is a national conference in october this year of which they will invite speakers from the government.

i’m glad that i attended the forum as i learned how important it is that we should have the right to information. the government is our ‘public servant’. we, the rakyat are their ‘masters’ as we elected them and we pay taxes. ‘servants’ should disclose information to their ‘masters’ so that the ‘masters’ will know what’s going on with the ‘servants’, aware of what they are doing, how they are doing it and so on. when ‘servant’s feel obligated to disclose information, then they will also be obligated to perform better!

oops. hope my analogy is good enough… as good as the 3 quotes i like (highlighted)